October 13, 2009

KOLKATA: A Trinamuli central minister accompanied by a Trinamuli MP visited the Arambagh-Pursura-Khanakul area of Hooghly where recently an AIKS worker Sheikh Hasib-ul had been brutally killed by Trinamuli goons and their lumpen associates. Arambagh witnessed a massive strike on 11 October in protest against the dastardly murder and the looting of the houses of the area plus arson that had followed under the aegis of the Trinamulis.

The entire train of event – carefully planed by the assassins and their Kolkata-based patrons no doubt – recalled to our mind the 1990s when the then Pradesh Congress had run riot in the same agrarian belt and had let loose a reign of terror for many months. There should be no doubt in anybody’s intelligence that a grisly re-run of the earlier events is about to be engaged in by the Trinamulis and their lackeys.

On 12 October, a central Trinamuli minister with a Trinamuli MP as his sidekick descended on the area with a convoy of 20 SUVs loaded with anti-socials and lumpens. The vehicles carrying the minister and the MP had flashing red beacons on top, and the minister’s vehicle also had the National Flag fluttering from the top of the bonnet. The convoy was accompanied by several police cars, which too had flashing red lights.

All this, as Biman Basu, secretary Bengal CPI (M) pointed out in a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, with copy marked to the chief electoral officer of Bengal, blatantly and openly flouted electoral norms as well as the concerned Model Code as the area falls under 180-Serampore Assembly constitutionally where elections are due on 7 November.

Holding a series of public rallies later in the afternoon, the two Trinamuli leaders had the temerity to call upon the goons who make up their political outfit, in Hooghly and elsewhere in Bengal, to behead the following CPI (M) leaders of the Hooghly district, mentioning each name with vituperative and vitriolic adjectives. The CPI (M) leaders so named are:

In addition, the two Trinamuli leaders publicly declared that women members of the families of CPI (M) leaders and followers in the areas would be subjected to gang-rape, and that their houses would be burnt down. Biman has pointed out these threats as well to the ECI calling for immediate remedial action as fit. A response from the ECI is awaited as we file this report.

We note in this connection how Trinamuli members and supporters lined up the route of the two Trinamuli leaders, and attended the meetings the duo addressed, complete with lethal weapons including pistols, revolvers, guns, rifles, and explosive devices in order to create panic and fear among the people of the Assembly constituency areas and the surrounds.